Halifax-based medical data provider Blue Charm Adherence has raised $4 million in a seed funding round to enhance its patient engagement tools and attract more customers.

The financing was co-led by Crédit Mutuel Equity of France and Invest Nova Scotia, both of which are investing in the company for the first time. Blue Charm’s original early-stage investors also participated in the round.

The new capital will support product development, user growth, and expansion of services for pharmaceutical partners, said the company.

“This seed round enables us to expand our capabilities, working toward the goal of making health more accessible, meaningful, and actionable for individuals across Canada and beyond,” said CEO Greg Patey in a statement.

Patey, who founded Blue Charm in 2020, was previously one of the co-founders of STI Technologies, which helped drug companies distribute samples efficiently. It was sold to the American multinational QuintilesIMS in February 2017, reportedly for $200 million.

His current venture helps pharmaceutical companies understand what patients experience when taking their medications, and rewards patients who complete questionnaires. The company recruits people suffering from specific conditions, such as severe asthma or diabetes, who also have valid prescriptions. These volunteers complete surveys over the course of their treatment, and are paid for their participation.

In an interview, Patey said the new funding will help the company build out the product and develop a team that can attract and support corporate clients as well as the people who participate in the surveys. In particular, he mentioned that the company aims to develop cutting edge data analysis so the healthcare industry gains a deeper understanding of patients’ experiences with different medications and why some people neglect to take their meds properly.

“I would argue that in healthcare this is one of the biggest problems in the world in terms of the non-adherence to medication,” he said.

Blue Charm currently employs 14 full-time people, along with seven contractors, and Patey expects to add 10 staff members by the end of 2026. He said this seed round should give the company about two years of runway, after which its board will evaluate its capital requirements.

Patey began to work on this round in March 2023 with a trip to California to meet investors. Unfortunately, it was the same month that Silicon Valley Bank collapsed so the funding environment was terrible. He began efforts again in February 2024, and a contact in Montreal connected him with Crédit Mutuel, which he said immediately became interested in the Blue Charm mission.

When asked if it could help the company’s growth to have a key investor based in Europe, Patey said, “It’s less about having a European investor and more about having a great partner. They understand what we do and that’s why they’ve invested.  . . . The partnership is everything in this situation.”

 Patey is typical of the founders in Nova Scotia who are currently closing seven- or eight-figure funding rounds because he is a serial entrepreneur in the life sciences sector. Asked about how Blue Charm compares with his experiences with STI Technologies, he said the two journeys have been very similar.

“It’s about the same at this point, from a growth point of view,” said Patey. “But I can think of other things that were moments in time when we won a big deal and hit the hockey stick, as they say. That took probably eight or nine years. We’re on the same pace for that now. But we have several things in the pipeline right now that could take place this year and help to take us to the next level.”